The subject matter disclosed herein relates to fuel injectors, and, more particularly, to fuel injectors for gasifiers.
A variety of combustion systems employ fuel injectors to inject a fuel into a combustion chamber. For example, an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant includes a gasifier with one or more fuel injectors. The fuel injectors supply a fuel, such as an organic feedstock, into the gasifier along with oxygen and steam to generate a syngas. In general, combustion occurs downstream from the fuel injectors. However, the proximity of a flame and/or heat from combustion can damage and/or reduce the life of the fuel injectors, particularly if the fuel injectors exceed certain temperatures. For example, the fuel injector may be subject to increasing greater temperatures toward the tip and/or other locations close to the flame. Unfortunately, existing cooling techniques are unable to provide differential cooling of the fuel injector, and thus the hot spots may not be sufficiently cooled to avoid premature wear.